The 58-year-old saw Real win the Primera Liga twice and Champions League once, but that record was a relative failure for a club who had invested heavily in the world’s most glamorous players.

One of those, England captain Beckham, was due to begin talks over a new contract next month.

Beckham has more than a year left on his existing deal and will now wait to discover whether the new regime, headed up for now by Perez’s immediate replacement Fernando Martin, consider him as vital to the club’s future as the last apparently did.

The Spanish giants recently replaced Manchester United as the richest club in the world, according to sports finance experts.

And there was no doubt Beckham’s appeal off the pitch helped the club become marketable around the world, but the former Manchester United midfielder has not won a medal since joining Madrid in 2003.

Luis Figo, on whose promised signing Perez came to power in 2000, was considered expendable last summer, although unlike Beckham – one of Madrid’s most consistent performers – his performances had dipped.

The ‘galacticos’ policy, alternatively known as ‘Zidanes and Pavons’, in which the likes of £46.5m (€68.3m) playmaker Zinedine Zidane teamed up with homegrown defenders such as Francesco Pavon, was ambitious but has not paid off in footballing terms.

By contract, the Deloitte ‘rich list’ showed that in terms of revenue, Real had earned £186.2m (€273m) almost £20m (€29m) more than Manchester United – in 2004-05.

Martin steps up from his previous role as vice-president, although it is unclear whether there will have to be fresh elections this summer.

Perez was less than two years into his second term as Real president, having been re-elected in July 2004.

Madrid have not claimed any major silverware since winning the league in 2003 and look likely to finish this season empty-handed following a string of disappointing recent results.

They were knocked out of the Copa del Rey semi-finals by Real Zaragoza earlier this month after losing the first leg 6-1, and they also suffered a 1-0 defeat in the opening leg of their Champions League last-16 encounter with Arsenal last week.

In the league, Sunday’s 2-1 defeat at struggling Real Mallorca saw Madrid fall 10 points behind leaders and arch-rivals Barcelona in the standings.

During his tenure, Perez has employed six different coaches at Real – Vicente Del Bosque, Carlos Queiroz, Jose Antonio Camacho, Mariano Garcia Remon, Wanderley Luxemburgo and Juan Ramon Lopez Caro.

Under Perez’s charge, Madrid signed England internationals Beckham, Michael Owen and Jonathan Woodgate, as well as ‘galacticos’ Figo, Zidane and Ronaldo.